PALM COAST, Fla. – A powerful tornado tore through the Indian Trails “B-Section” Neighborhood of Palm Coast just before 5 a.m. Thursday during a Weather Authority Alert, leaving several homes with “catastrophic” damage, officials said.
According to a preliminary survey by the National Weather Service, the EF-2 tornado was about 200 yards wide, hit peak wind speeds of 115 mph and traveled about one mile. Luckily, no one was hurt.
Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill said the tornado touched down just after 4:45 a.m. and that the damage appeared to be contained to an area between Belle Terre Parkway and I-95.
“We have several families that have experienced catastrophic property loss and our hearts go out to them this morning,” Berryhill said. “Luckily, as of right now, we’ve experienced no injuries from this event, which is really a blessing for our community.”
Several residents described the damage and the “freight train” sound they heard early in the morning.
“We had a truss from their house hit the top of our house and a 2x4 came through about 3 feet from my mom’s head. Went straight through the roof,” one resident said.
NWS said several houses sustained significant roof damage in the path, particularly a home along Baltimore Lane which suffered complete destruction of its roof. A minivan was also flipped onto its side and moved from the driveway onto the road along Birchwood Drive. Several screened lanai enclosures, sheds and fences were significantly damaged or destroyed. Several trees were snapped and powerlines were downed.
Ben Mugford said the still-wet ground his main concern at his sister’s house.
“I’m always worried about these monster trees because they can fall and crush the house on top of it,” Mugford said.
They were lucky to not have any damage.
Mugford and his neighbors were cleaning up on Thursday afternoon.
“Never expected it, no,” he said. “There’s a lot of trees that were on the ground, there was a car turned over down the street. And there must have been 20 police cars in here. You couldn’t even get down the street. I heard a lot of lightning and some rain, but I really didn’t hear that thunder sound you know, what makes that whistling noise. Maybe because I was sound asleep in bed.”
But just a few houses down, Rich Bewsher heard it.
“4:47 in the morning,” he said. “Because I heard the roar, and I started hearing the crashing and the banging.”
That’s crashing and banging was right in his backyard.
A trampoline from his neighbor’s house flew into his backyard. A grill that was on the wall of the house ended up in the pool.
“The part that irritated me more than anything I think was the fence. I mean the fence is such a mess you know. This is 80 feet right here that’s totally gone. That one down that side was 56 feet. And that’s not even a month old. I just put that up,” Bewsher said.
Thankfully he and his wife were safe.
Where to get help
Any residents in need of assistance after the storm should report to Parkview Baptist Church at 5435 Belle Terre Pkwy in Palm Coast. Flagler County staff will be available to assist with the needs of the community members until at least noon Thursday.
After noon Thursday, residents in need of assistance should call 386-313-4200.
“There are teams from the city of Palm Coast going door to door right now in that general neighborhood just to give us a more specific overview of the damage in that neighborhood, house by house,” Flagler County Emergency Management Director Jonathan Lord said.
Barry Peters, operations pastor at Parkview Baptist, said the ministry is offering to help with food, water, shelter and any other needs that people might have if they were affected. Anyone who needs help can just show up or call the church at 386-445-5440.
“We are wide open to do whatever we can to help our community,” Peters said. “We want to be that spot in the community where people feel safe, they feel secure, and they feel the love of God from God’s people. We want to partner with people in our community.”
Peters said so far a little less than 10 families have been helped, including a family that lost their roof. The church is putting them up in a nearby hotel.
“Their lives have just been turned upside down,” Peters said. “We can be that place of comfort and encouragement through a difficult time and give them resources.”
Peters said the church has also assembled a small group of volunteers who are taking phone calls from people who need help as well as preparing to go into the neighborhood and help clean up once it is safe for them to do so.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office shared photos of the extensive damage, which included downed powerlines, fallen trees, an overturned vehicle, and damage to several homes.
Citizens with photographs of storm damage are asked to upload them to this link: https://flaglersherifffl.evidence.com/.../october12stormd...
When asked for a description of the photo, please INCLUDE THE ADDRESS OF THE DAMAGE. The photographs will be used for storm documentation and situational awareness, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff Rick Staly said the first alert of the severe storm went out at 4:26 a.m.
“I want to commend the first responders that started responding when it was still dark out, checking on the homes and the people in there to make sure everybody was OK, and, fortunately, we’ve had no reported injuries,” Staly said.
Avoid the area
City and county leaders asked residents to avoid the area of the tornado damage for their own safety and so they don’t interfere with recovery efforts.
“We have first responders in that neighborhood. If you don’t live there, that’s really not a place for you this morning, so we would ask you not to just drive around and take a look at the damage,” Berryhill said.
He encouraged those who want to help to reach out to anyone they know in that area or to contact one of the local charities providing assistance.
“We definitely had several homes suffer major structural damage. We had streets blocked. We have power out and powerlines down in this community,” Berryhill said. “This is a resilient community and a resilient neighborhood, and we’ll be back up on our feet.”
Safety after storm
Berryhill also offered a reminder about generator safety in the wake of the storm.
“Something that we sometimes see after these events is when people position those generators in a way that carbon monoxide poisoning becomes an issue,” Berryhill said.
Staly also pointed out that injuries often occur after the storm has passed.
“Most of the injuries after a tornado, hurricane, those kinds of events, occur after the storm -- trees continuing to fall, people are out there cutting down trees and they fall on themselves,” Staly said. “They just step on nails, and there’s always a potential for live wires.”
Both Staly and Berryhill implored residents NOT to touch any downed lines but to call the city, county or FPL to report the issue immediately.
Staly pointed out that there had been several crashes Thursday morning because of the weather and urged drivers to be cautious.
“I would remind people that the roads are wet and they’re dangerous, so just be careful if you have to leave your home,” Staly said.
He also offered a stern warning for anyone who might try to come to the area to “prey on the victims” of the weather event.
“Know that I have vacancies at the jail and that’s where you will end up,” Staly said. “Don’t even try to come to this area and prey on people that have been victimized by a weather event because we will arrest you. We’ve had none of those issues so far. We’d like to keep it that way.”
‘Very blessed’
Staly acknowledged the difficult property loss for some Palm Coast residents but said he’s glad it wasn’t worse.
“We were really very fortunate. I’m sure that the homes that were struck the worst don’t feel that way but when you look at what could have occurred and what has occurred in other communities and even this community in the past, we’re really very blessed and fortunate that it was not more severe,” Staly said.
For real-time updates and information, follow the City of Palm Coast, Palm Coast Fire Department, Flagler Sheriff, and Flagler County Emergency Management on social media and stay tuned to News4JAX for the latest developments.
Residents are encouraged to report any emergencies to 911 and use Palm Coast Connect for any city service issues.